Blackenburg
Senior Citizens Oesig
Senior Center

The site is located in the Harz region and its impressive landscape, on the fringes of the small historical resort town of Blankeburg. The project addresses and mediates its context between the adjacent single-family houses, the East Germany prefabricated blocks, and the landscape.

Hence, the contextual diversity of scale is resolved on both an urban and architectural level. Similarly, the nursing home design addresses the large-scale forms of the neighbouring East German blocks, reinterpreting the volume and architecturally fragmenting its scale. The housing unit for the elderly combine to form a U-shaped building with an enclosed courtyard, while the buildings organize themselves around landscaped courtyards that slope downhill. In doing so, they relate to each other visually and also connect physically.

The courtyards embody the identity of the Senior Citizens’ Centre, and create outdoor microcosms that facilitate gardening, as well as formal and informal meeting spaces in the piazza. Articulated as a stone platform, the piazza interlocks with the nursing home building and creates a public ground floor that contains a cafeteria, shops, and offices for doctors and therapists. The intersection of the two results in a large glazed surface in the facade that offers a unique, panoramic view onto the rolling landscape. At the same time, open spaces mediate between the buildings and the landscape, allowing for the latter to flow freely through the ensemble.